Living in a city can pose various challenges for families who are looking for educational opportunities that balance city and nature. When most of our day is spent commuting shoulder to shoulder in a vastly overpopulated city, who has time to create well-balanced activities that invite exploration and nurture education? The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is here to help. Below you will find our new favorite titles for the entire family from Roost Books, exploring nature and environmental awareness in cities!
It’s a Jungle Out There! 52 nature Adventure for City Kids by Jennifer Ward invites parents and children to explore the nature behind and below all the traffic and the noise. The 52 fun and educational activities listed in the book are conveniently categorized by season. Ward makes it easy for families to hunt for worms in the spring, observe colonies of sidewalk ants during the summer, identify trees by their bark in the fall, and locate birds’ nests in the winter. There are even indoor activities to enjoy during inclement weather! Invite your child to a window and spend time observing what you see from it, or plant something together indoors. At the end of each activity, Ward provides an explanation of the lessons being taught during the activity. Sprinkled throughout the book are Plant the Seed prompts which encourage additional reading or actions that will enhance the activity’s lesson. The narrative throughout the book assumes an adult reader is the target audience but the context is simply written so that a reader of any age can enjoy Ward’s book. The book itself is thin and compact, making it easy to bring along as you discover parts of your city.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
If you are only going to buy one book about indoor gardening this year, make it Indoor Edible Garden. This resource is packed full of helpful information, detailed diagrams, and creative indoor gardening projects. This book instills confidence and knowledge in beginners and inspires creativity and experimentation in the more experienced.
The book is divided into six sections: planning an indoor edible garden; herbs and edible flowers; sprouts, leaves, and roots; fruiting vegetables; fruit; and experts’ tips. One of my favorite parts of the book comes early on—a series of helpful diagrams indicating “zones” indoors where gardeners can grow vegetables based on light and temperature restrictions and requirements. One of the most challenging aspects of indoor gardening is light, and Indoor Edible Garden is a great resource for information about this crucial component.
Within each section, projects range from simple to more complex, with the requirements for each project including supplies, time to set up the project, and ongoing maintenance of plantings clearly indicated. One of my favorites is the suggestion to grow microgreens in silicone muffin cups (pp. 84–87). This project, like so many in this book, is creative, relatively simple, and clearly communicates to home gardeners what is needed for indoor garden success.
Whether you are looking for a book for yourself, or a last-minute holiday gift for someone special, Indoor Edible Garden is sure to delight and inspire.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
Landscape of Dreams: The Gardens of Isabel & Julian Bannerman is an exquisite landscape architecture and landscape history book authored by the designers and published with Pimpernel Press. The forward by HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) begins, “For me, [the Bannermans] are the worthy heirs of William Kent, one of the greatest and most creative of early eighteenth century ‘designers’ who, like Julian and Isabel, managed to combine the arts of architecture, landscape and interior design in one seamless, unified theme. To do this believably, and with such original élan, is a mark of their unique contribution to society.” The anticipation after reading these words was palpable, and the book did not disappoint.
The Bannermans met in the 1980s and received their first garden commission in 1990. Their aesthetic harkens back to the Scottish art scene from which they emerged, and is also heavily influenced by classic garden literature. Landscape of Dreams is not only a lovely book filled with beautiful photos of the gardens the couple has designed, but also a window into their inspiration and processes. The first part of the book includes a history of their beginnings as designers, including literature and landscapes influential to their development.
Now circulating from The LuEsther T. Mertz Library children’s collection are the exciting and imaginative works by award-winning children’s book author Joyce Sidman. I invite you to explore shapes, seasons, wildlife, plants, and soil with the lyrical poetry and whimsical illustrations by Sidman and her peers. Her most notable work The Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems, illustrated by Beckie Prange, is the winner of the Caldecott Honors and the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. Its riddle-like poetry encourages readers to use the images on the pages as clues.
Sidman continued to dazzle critics and readers by winning another Caldecott Honors and the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award for Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Experience the changing of the seasons with the bursts of color and the flowing verse throughout.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books by Marta McDowell was published in October of this year. This eclectic work documents the plants chronicled in the various landscapes of Wilder’s works. With a heavy dose of historical content, many images, and a narrative that is accessible to advanced younger and seasoned readers alike, this work is a lovely gift for anyone who loves or has loved the Little House books. Readers new to botany will find McDowell’s writing clear and easy to understand, and those who enjoy travelogue writing will appreciate the personal diary entries she sprinkles throughout the text. This project is near and dear to the hearts of those in the NYBG Plant Information Office (a part of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library), as Anita Finkle-Guerrero, Leslie Coleman, and Samantha D’Acunto assisted McDowell with the identification of some of the violet species mentioned in Wilder’s works.
We’re happy to share our newest titles from Barefoot Books. These charming stories will invite you to bring your storytime outdoors! All titles featured below are available for checkout for library cardholders. We hope to see you in the library soon!
Billy and Grandpa begin to garden at the very first sign of spring. This will be Billy’s first year gardening with Grandpa, so there will be much to learn! After churning the soil and planting many seeds, Billy is finding it hard to wait patiently for results, so garden chores and exploring the wildlife around the garden keep him busy. Before you know it, Billy and Grandpa’s garden is bursting with lush green leaves and many vegetables. Grandpa’s Garden offers readers a realistic perspective on the seasonal chores necessary to achieve a successful garden. Throughout the book you will find plenty of new garden vocabulary, and at the end of the book there are seasonal chore tips and even a diagram of a suggested garden plot design. Grandpa’s Garden is inspirational and informative—you shouldn’t be surprised if even the youngest of readers are ready to start planting after reading this delightful story.
Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle (1717–1806), Jardin de Monceau, published in Paris in 1779
On September 7, 2017, The New York Botanical Garden’s Humanities Institute and the Foundation for Landscape Studies, New York, co-hosted the Colloquium Carmontelle’s Jardin de Monceau: Celebrating the unique Garden Culture of 18th-century France, held in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library’s Shelby White and Leon Levy Reading Room.
The Colloquium marked the starting point of an important project: the publication of a facsimile edition in English of the richly illustrated Jardin de Monceau, an impressive folio-sized volume by Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle (1717–1806), published in Paris in 1779. Designed by Carmontelle for the Duc de Chartres, the actual garden of Monceau still survives today, though in different form, as the much-frequented Parc Monceau at the heart of Paris. The original layout of the garden, with its rich architectural and sculptural features, formed an ideal social setting for the fashionable elite shortly before the French Revolution—a watershed moment in European history that would bring to an end the glamorous lifestyle and mode of garden design reflected in this work. Carmontelle’s Jardin de Monceau is a key cultural monument in the history of European landscape design, garden architecture, and horticulture, as well as printmaking and fashion design.
Wisconsin-based children’s book author Miranda Paul has made her debut in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library circulating children’s collection. She’s won numerous awards and has received glowing reviews for the titles featured below. Paul’s passion, personality, and voice echo from the pages of each of her books. Her collaboration with various illustrators allow for unique experiences with all of her characters and environments. To learn more about Miranda Paul and her other titles, visit her website. We hope you find your way to the library to check out one of these titles for yourself!
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.
Kimmerer is a compelling writer who has the ability to look at plants—organisms—through multiple lenses. Her formal training in botany has given her the ability to write about plants as a scientist, while her work with indigenous cultures and their history gives her writing a highly-personal and humanized perspective. Her works are immensely readable and delightful to those who love plants, ecology, and the interactions between humans and the environment. Although a collection of personal essays, Gathering Moss has more of a scientific grounding, whereas Braiding Sweetgrass is more interdisciplinary, and more appropriate for a general audience. Both are interesting and engaging and can be enjoyed by scientists and non-scientists.
Living in a city can pose various challenges for families who are looking for educational opportunities that balance city and nature. When most of our day is spent commuting shoulder to shoulder in a vastly overpopulated city, who has time to create well-balanced activities that invite exploration and nurture education? The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is here to help. Below you will find our new favorite titles for the entire family from Roost Books, exploring nature and environmental awareness in cities!
